Combining Philosophers

Ideas for B Hale / C Wright, Antoine Arnauld and Martin Heidegger

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4 ideas

16. Persons / A. Concept of a Person / 4. Persons as Agents
My active existence is defined by being able to say 'I can' [Heidegger]
     Full Idea: The Dasein which I myself am in each instance is defined in its Being by my being able to say of it, 'I am, that is, I can'.
     From: Martin Heidegger (History of the Concept of Time [1925], p.298), quoted by Richard Polt - Heidegger: an introduction 3.§31-3
     A reaction: I like this emphasis on the more active aspect of the Cogito idea. The whole Enlightenment account of things has them as inert, and falling under laws and theories. The Aristotelian account makes potentiality central.
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 7. Self and Body / a. Self needs body
Certainty that I will die is more basic to my existence than the Cogito [Heidegger]
     Full Idea: The certainty that 'I myself am in that I will die' is the basic certainty of Dasein itself. It is a genuine statement of Dasein, while 'cogito sum' is only a semblance of such a statement.
     From: Martin Heidegger (History of the Concept of Time [1925], p.316-7), quoted by Richard Polt - Heidegger: an introduction 4.§46-53
     A reaction: This just seems to be false. Children face their existence in thought long before they face their mortality. Absorption in activity can marginalise death, but not marginalise thought.
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self
There is an everyday self, and an authentic self, when it is grasped in its own way [Heidegger]
     Full Idea: The self of everyday Dasein is the they-self [das Man-selbst], which we distinguish from the authentic self - that is, from the Self which has been taken hold of in its own way.
     From: Martin Heidegger (Being and Time [1927], I.4.27)
     A reaction: To a novice this sounds like a requirement for increased self-consciousness during daily activity. 'Be a good animal, true to your animal self' said one of Lawrence's characters.
16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self
Everyone is other, and no one is himself [Heidegger]
     Full Idea: Everyone is other, and no one is himself.
     From: Martin Heidegger (Being and Time [1927], p.165), quoted by Rüdiger Safranski - Nietzsche: a philosophical biography 09
     A reaction: Safranski describes this as the idea of 'structural self-evasion'. He detects the same idea in Nietzsche's 'Daybreak'.